1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to medical imaging systems.
2. Discussion of Related Art
There are several different types of anatomical images that are displayed on a monitor display in a patient examination room during acquisition of the anatomical images. These types of images can be categorized as follows for an exemplary X-ray radiographic examination:                1) Live x-ray images;        2) Previous x-ray images; and        3) Other images or data, including a directory of images to be reviewed.The first category, live x-ray, is not generally removed from the monitor to be substituted by other images. If a user is reviewing images from the second category, e.g., a series of previous x-ray images and wants to change to a different x-ray series of the same patient, the reviewed image is removed to display images from the third category, e.g., a graphical directory or group of small images, e.g., a 2×2, a 4×4, etc., similar to a sheet of postage stamps, is displayed from which the user will choose what to review next. The user sees the grid of small images on each of one or two of the main display monitors and then positions a cursor using a joystick of a touch-screen panel to select one to be shown full-screen. The user then selects an image for review using either a mouse or joystick. At bedside, the user positions a cursor using the joystick, followed by selecting the image using a button, which is slow and awkward.        
As can be appreciated then from the foregoing description, display of a graphical directory of images during an examination or review of an examination using a monitor or main panel display upon which the images being viewed are currently displayed requires removing the images from the monitor or main panel display. Also, since it is necessary to select an object by positioning a cursor at bedside using a joystick, the selection process is cumbersome and slow.